The man behind the Juventus quake
Scorn and ridicule for Juve beer
Marie Schulte-Bockum
33 mins ago
Juventus Turin is in front of a pile of rubble. Cristiano Giuntoli, who led SSC Napoli to the Scudetto as sports director, now comes as a savior. But how does the trained architect tick? Can he restore Italy’s “Old Lady”?
Juventus staged the commitment of the new sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli as big as Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival in the summer of 2018.
The Bianconeri’s star access shouldn’t shine on the pitch at all – but on the transfer market.
Giuntoli is considered a diamond eye in Italy because he discovered players like Kim Min-jae and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for Naples for eight years and brought them to the volcanic city.
Cristiano Giuntoli won 2023 with Neapel the Scudetto
The trained architect Giuntoli has now been given a five-year contract in Turin for the restoration of Italy’s “Old Lady”. There has never been such a vote of confidence at Juventus.
Giuntoli, who only won the championship with Napoli a few weeks ago, now enthuses in a PR video on Juve’s website: “As a child, I rode the bus for eight hours to see Juventus play.”
“If I had known about his Juventus past, I would have gotten rid of him much earlier,” said Naples President Aurelio de Laurentiis about the ex-sports director’s brawn interview.
No wonder: it is always uncomfortable when a valued member of the proud Maradona club leaves Naples for northern Italy. The best-known example of modern times is Gonzalo Higuaín, whose jersey Napoli fans flushed down the toilet when he went to Turin in 2016.
Giuntoli to “wipe out the disaster of Agnelli and Paratici”
But back to Giuntoli. What makes him so special that Italy’s biggest club is now striking?
“Juve, Giuntoli is your real top player from now on!” yelled CalcioMercato about Turin, who will probably not even take part in the Conference League next season due to being banned from UEFA. “Blown away by the master to erase the disaster of Agnelli and Paratici,” continued the Sportblatt.
But before Giuntoli comes to “extinguish” the Juventus disaster, he first pours gasoline on the fire. Because the new sporting director told longtime captain Leonardo Bonucci on holiday that he should leave Juventus. Arthur Melo and the two former Bundesliga players Weston McKennie and Denis Zakaria should also go.
Giuntoli’s Juve upheaval is taking shape early on. For an accurate forecast of Turin’s future, it’s worth taking a look at his past.
Giuntoli, now 51 years old, was born in Florence and grew up in the Tuscan countryside. He spent much of his childhood in his grandfather’s bar, “where they only talked about football and cycling,” as Cronache di Spogliatoio reports.
In this bar, little Cristiano learned early on “to hit the right notes” and “to tame the public”. Qualities that he now has to bring to bear when dealing with the Turin press.
Hamsik and Higuain: Giuntoli wasn’t always popular with Naples
At his mother’s request, Giuntoli studied architecture and construction for 16 semesters before abruptly ending his studies to play in Italy’s 4th and 5th divisions. The great success came after the player career. As sporting director, Giuntoli led AC Carpi from Serie D to Serie A between 2009 and 2015.
This steep rise with the football dwarf paved Giuntoli’s way to Naples, where he signed on in the summer of 2015.
From the start, Giuntoli did not shy away from unpopular decisions. He sold Higuaín to Juve after they had just finished top scorer in Serie A.
The architect completely rebuilt Napoli’s players’ cabin. Many well-known stars left Naples in the course of his makeover. He sold Gökhan Inler to Leicester, Marek Hamsik went to China and Allan to Everton, to name just a few.
“Giuntoli just the right man for Juventus’ rebuilding”
On the access side, Giuntoli poached in Europe’s football periphery. For example, he found Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in Georgia’s Erovnuli Liga.
Sports director Kim Min-jae brought in Turkey to replace crowd favorite Kalidou Koulibaly. So those South Koreans who are about to move to Bayern Munich.
At Juventus, on the other hand, Giuntoli has to sell before he can buy. Demolish for the desired reconstruction. With almost 40 (!) players, Juve’s squad is bloated and overpriced. Most regular players are older than 30, have good contracts and will hardly generate transfers.
“Giuntoli is exactly the right man for the rebuilding of Juventus. You need a sustainable strategy in the transfer market and Cristiano knows how to do that,” says Salvatore Malfitano, Naples reporter at Gazzetta dello Sport, at SPORT1.
Giuntoli’s mission is clear: first the demolition, then the reconstruction.
But first things first.
2023-07-16 18:02:09
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